Repeated actions without knowledgeable critique are merely repeated actions. That isn’t training.
Do something enough times and you may smooth out the rough spots, increase your speed, and become more efficient. But what if the action itself is incorrect? Greater efficiency does not make a flawed technique more effective. It only makes that technique more familiar and harder to recognize as a problem.
It may be practice, but practice without guidance can develop your skill set in the wrong direction. As Pat Rogers often said, “Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent.”
When you repeatedly perform an action without qualified feedback, you risk turning mistakes into habits. Correcting those habits later may require far more effort and repetition than learning the proper technique from the beginning. This is especially important when the skill must be performed quickly, under pressure, or with serious consequences attached to failure. Under stress, people generally fall back on what they have rehearsed—not what they intended to do.
The solution is straightforward: seek training, find knowledgeable guidance, and remain open to correction. Someone might become a capable gunslinger entirely through personal experimentation—but why take the longest and least reliable route?
Relevant firearms training from a vetted instructor is a shortcut. A good instructor helps you avoid predictable mistakes, corrects problems before they become ingrained, and draws upon lessons others have already paid for with time, frustration, and failure. The instructor can also explain why a technique works, when it applies, and where its limitations begin. That context allows you to evaluate your performance instead of simply counting repetitions.
Training does not eliminate the need for practice. It gives your practice the right direction. It identifies weaknesses, establishes useful standards, and shows you what deserves additional attention. Practice then reinforces those lessons until correct performance becomes consistent and repeatable.
If you are trying to improve entirely on your own, you are ignoring a proven way to reach your destination faster and with less wasted effort.
Get the training. Then make your practice count.